Stories from RuNet Echo from February, 2010
Russia and US to Broaden Collaboration Online
Vesti.ru wrote [RUS] about the visit of the U.S. “innovation delegation” [EN] led by America's Chief Technology Officer Aneesh Chopra [EN]. The plans of the Russian-U.S. cooperation include launching e-government...
Russia: Sakhalin Island Fails to Connect to Broadband
Blogger w7062c wrote [RUS] about two unsuccessful attempts to connect Sakhalin island [EN] (island in the Pacific north closer to Japan) to the broadband network of Russia. The third attempt...
Russia: Closure of Torrents.ru Makes People Suspicious of .Ru Zone
The decision to close Torrents.ru is certainly controversial and became one of the major discussion topics in the country. Going beyond the copyright concept, bloggers wonder how safe it is to have a domain in .ru zone.
Russia: Government Supports Blogger School
Gov-gov.ru blogs [RUS] about a new online initiative: government-sponsored blogger schools that emerge in Tomsk (Siberia) [RUS] and Dagestan [RUS]. The Dagestan region has one of the lowest Internet penetration...
Russia: Provider Sued For Not Blocking Web Sites
The prosecutor's office of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Siberian region where most of Russia's oil comes from, filed a suit against a local Internet provider that refused to block “extremist”...
Russia: Seeking Justice by Linking and Re-Posting
The recent story of a car crash in one of Siberian cities and reaction of boggers to the incident illustrate how an improvised online campaign attempts to affect gloomy reality.
Italy, Russia: Berlusconi's Russian Style
IZO links to LJ user maratguelman‘s post (RUS) and writes: “Silvio Berlusconi travels round Rome in a Russian-made VAZ-Patriot car and likes to wear a commando jacket given to him...
Russia: “Merry Gnome”
IZO links to LJ user postoronniy-cb‘s post (RUS) and writes: “When prez Medvedev visited Omsk recently, a sign advertising a play for children called We Await You, Merry Gnome was...
Russia: Torrents.Ru Shut Down
IZO reports on some Russian bloggers’ thoughts (RUS) on why “the massively popular Russian file-sharing site torrents.ru has been shut down.”
Russia: “Best of Russia” Photo Exhibition
IZO writes about Best Of Russia '09 photography exhibition at Winzavod Contemporary Art Center in Moscow: “The wide range of amateur or semi-pro content and the big turn-out reminded me...
Russia: Online Media Competition Lacks Transparency
The Russian Federal Telecommunications Agency announced [RUS] a competition to support online media. Adindex.ru reports [RUS] that requirements for lack transparency and suggests the competition is a way to encourage...
Russia: New Military Doctrine and Information Security
The new Russian military doctrine provides an interesting opportunity to evaluate the role of information from security perspective. This may apply to the issues of cyber security and Internet, as well as other information platforms.
Russia: Sakha (Yakut) Language on the Internet
AskYakutia.com posts a Q&A item on the Sakha Wikipedia and the use of the Sakha (Yakut) language on the Internet.
Russia: Media Portal Undergoes Check For Extremism
The war on extremism became a universal formula used by Russian authorities to fight the freedom of online expression. Interestingly enough, this practice co-exists with ambitious projects of the Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to modernize the country.
Russia: Torrents.ru Is Suspended
The major Russian torrent (files exchange) service torrents.ru has been suspended due to investigation of copyright violations, RIA Novosty reported. The service continues to work via another domain.
Russia: More People Watch Video Online
Russian Internet TV daily audience grew 45 percent since last year and now consists of 1.39 million people watching TV programs online, “RUmetrika” reported.
Russia: Bloggers Remember Rock Legend
In February, Russian bloggers celebrated a sad date. Ilya Kormiltsev, one of Russia’s most talented and controversial poets and songwriters, died of spine cancer three years ago. Kormiltsev’s death became the first and the most publicized death on the Russian Internet.
Russia: Bloggers Discuss Utilization of Old Books
Libraries are throwing away old books due to old age and lack of readership, literary critic Alexander Zhitinski reported [RUS]. A library in Saint-Petersburg had to throw away all the...
Russia: Human Rights Activists’ Blogs
A list of links to Russian human rights activists’ blogs (RUS) – at Human Rights in Russia (hro.org).
Russia: Avatar & North Caucasus – Fiction vs Reality
LJ user burtin posts this comment (RUS) about Avatar: “Interesting that people cry [as they watch] Avatar – while reports from Chechnya and Ingushetia leave them totally indifferent. Even though...
Russia: When Politicians Go Online
When more and more Russian politicians become bloggers and seek the help of PR firms to develop and manage their blogs, people wonder about the future of the Russian blogosphere as an independent information platform and valuable public sphere.
